I-Team: Former Terrebonne Parish sheriff's spending habits questioned

A hefty budget surplus is gone, legal fees that some consider excessive and a $300,000 boat, which is considered useless by emergency responders are all drawing concerns about how a former south Louisiana sheriff managed millions of dollars.

The situation all centers on the Sheriff’s Office in Terrebonne Parish during the years it was run by a man who wasn’t just the “top cop,” he was also a reality television star.

The former sheriff, Vernon Bourgeois, said he ran a clean, efficient office and did nothing improper.

However, the man who replaced him, Sheriff Jerry Larpenter, disagrees and has state legislative auditors combing through the books.

Larpenter believes there are big problems, that he says, have strapped his department financially.

Sitting in the back lot of the Terrebonne Parish motor pool is a 38-foot boat that Larpenter said is useless to his law enforcement efforts.

“The boat is not conducive to the waterways of Terrebonne Parish, not conducive with what we do here daily in this parish,” he said.

Larpenter said his predecessor spent more than $300,000 on the fiberglass boat and a souped-up Dodge Ram truck to haul it.

Larpenter has been unable to sell the boat, but admitted that he would keep trying. He used the boat as an example of what he calls “suspect” spending habits by the man he succeeded.

Bourgeois left office last summer after serving one four-year term as sheriff.

Bourgeois starred in the A&E program “Cajun Justice.”

It was Bourgeois who took over from Larpenter when, in 2008, Larpenter ran for parish president. Larpenter lost that race, and last year he was reelected back to his old job as sheriff.

As both the predecessor and successor to Bourgeois, Larpenter has a unique insight into the office and its books.

When he left the post five years ago, Larpenter said he passed on a $10 million budget surplus.

“You have to live within your means,” Larpenter said.

However, Larpenter said Bourgeois didn’t do that.

Bourgeois chose not to seek reelection in the most recent cycle. The multimillion dollar surplus was almost entirely gone, Larpenter said.

“Somebody has to watch out for the taxpayers’ money,” he said.

The state’s legislative auditor is now at the Sheriff’s Office combing over the books and checking all past spending practices.

Larpenter said the financial freefall is why he had to lay off nearly 30 people last summer.

Records show that in 50 months, from the summer of 2008 through the summer of 2012, Bourgeois paid an outside law firm more than $800,000.

On average, that’s almost $17,000 a month. However, the records show on a half-dozen separate occasions, Bourgeois spend more than $20,0000 in a single month on outside legal fees. The most costly month was in September of 2008. Nearly $30,000 were spent on outside legal services.

The I-Team compared the figures with other parishes and found they spend less on legal fees.

Neighboring Lafourche Parish, which is similar in size, averages about $5,500 a month. Washington Parish, with a much smaller population, spends about $5,000 a month on outside legal fees.

St. Bernard Parish, which is also a smaller parish compared to Terrebonne Parish, spends about $10,000 a month.

Records show the firm contracted by Bourgeois, is the Dodd Law Firm based in Houma. The firm’s website shows two lawyers work there – Bill Dodd and his son, Seth.

In 2008, Bill Dodd held news conferences and served as a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office in the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.

Dodd declined to comment on camera with WDSU, but did say that all work done by his firm was properly documented and billed.

Larpenter said Bourgeois used the attorney for more work than needed.

“The previous sheriff allowed him to do his job and if you are the attorney for the sheriff you need to be the sheriff and not doing the sheriff's work,” Larpenter said.

Security expert Mike Cahn said while Larpenter deems some legal fees, boats and a whittled-down budget are problematic, auditors may not see it that way.

“It's good to have auditors come in for the taxpayers sake, so they know what they are getting for their money,” Cahn said. “As long as it stays in that tunnel, per se, of doing it for law enforcement means, you're fine -- it's when it becomes gross misspending and buying things that may not be deemed necessary for law enforcement of government that you have issues.”

Bourgeois declined an on-camera interview with WDSU, but said that he did nothing wrong when he was in office and said he questions some of the numbers being presented by Larpenter when it comes to the former budget surplus.

Bourgeois said he is confident a full legislative audit will prove that.

Larpenter said the auditors are also going through the finances of the reality show “Cajun Justice,” which aired for one season in 2011.

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